


words with meaning

by relvey



Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, Soulmates, and theres an overuse of the word bullshit in this fic, craig is a jerk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 13:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13718955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relvey/pseuds/relvey
Summary: Everyone is born with words written on their body that their soulmate will say to them some day. They aren't the first words they'll say to you, nor the last. Half the time they aren't even a very specific phrase. Eventually, the words fade off a person's skin.Craig believes this concept to be ridiculous, and decides he wants nothing to do with soulmates. Unfortunately, he can't forget his words no matter how hard he tries.





	words with meaning

Soulmates are bullshit.  
  
This is just a fact of life. And no, not the idea of soulmates existing, because they very much exist. Everyone is born with words written on their left arm; something their soulmate is going to say to them at some point in their life.  
  
The reason this concept is bullshit has to do with the words themselves. They aren’t the first words they’ll ever say to you. They aren’t words with any meaning to them. They’re just words. Any words. There are examples of people with simply, “How are you?” written on their arm, the vaguest thing it could possibly be. Anyone could say that to you. Your soulmate could say it to you a hundred times and you would never realise it was them.  
  
_That_ is why soulmates are complete and utter bullshit.  
  
The words don’t even last forever. They fade over time when a person is young. Most people can’t see them at all by the time they’ve turned 10. Some kids write it down. Some parents write it down for their kids. Some people don’t want to forget.  
  
Craig Tucker tore his paper into pieces at age 13 after he realised that his words were garbage that would never mean anything to him. Unfortunately, they were ingrained in his mind forever.  
  
_“Why do you have to say it like that, Craig?”_  
  
He wasn’t big on the idea of Love anyway. He’d figured himself out in the strangest way as a kid, and even after accepting his sexuality, he found he just wasn’t good at the actual relationship part. His only real relationship lasted about two years before they broke it off, laughing about silly childhood romances. It was a mutual thing. Neither party was hurt. Actually, Tweek was still one of his closest friends to this day.  
  
He hadn’t really dated anyone since then, which he would blame on slim pickings of other gay boys his age in this town. Craig wasn’t about to out anyone, but he had the feeling a couple of his classmates were still in the closet… and he couldn’t really blame them. Part of him was glad he was outed so young. No one cared anymore, everyone just expected him to be Gay Craig.  
  
Didn’t matter so much anymore anyway. This was his last week of school, and somehow he doubted he’d be coming back to this town after he left for college. This town was a hell hole that he was determined to never get trapped in. Something about being here too long made adults stupid. He just wanted to live a simple, quiet life. Have an apartment with his guinea pigs, maybe find a boyfriend if he could find anyone willing to put up with his personality, or lack thereof.  
  
_‘That’s the goal, anyway.’_ Craig took a drag of his cigarette, and exhaled the smoke with a sigh. He’d always pictured himself as the high school delinquent, skipping class to smoke behind the school while pretending to be cool. It wasn’t really cool. If he looked to his right, he’d see the goth kids sitting in their little group, doing the same as him except they actually looked cool. They were pros at this, though. Maybe that was a bad thing… they were pretty young when they started this habit. He was 15 when he had his first cigarette.  
  
He tried not to look at them, because he got the feeling they didn’t like him very much. He wished he wasn’t out here by himself, looking awkward as hell. Were they even looking at him? He had a sudden urge to flip them off but he knew deep down that it was probably his imagination and he was getting pissed off for no reason. Calm down, Craig. Breathe-  
  
“Craig!”  
  
In the middle of trying to calm himself, he found himself jumping, looking wide eyed at the door that had just opened near him. Once he realised who it was, he relaxed. “Oh, Tweek. It’s just you.”  
  
“Dude, you’ve been gone for ages! Teacher thought maybe you fell in….”  
  
Oh, right. He’d made the lame excuse of needed to use the restroom and now he’d been gone an absurdly long amount of time. This wasn’t actually an unusual occurrence for him, but rarely did teachers bother to send someone looking for him.  
  
“But of course you knew better.” Craig snorted and took another drag. Teachers never got any less stupid as they went through the grades. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long. That class sucks ass.” He tossed the remainder of the cigarette on the pavement and stomped it out before turning to face his friend.  
  
“You say that about every class.” Tweek looked tired, but he always did these days. He’d cut back on his coffee intake some years ago, but it seemed like he was still going through a crash from the near constant buzz he’d had during his childhood. Less coffee did help him calm down some, even if he was still paranoid as hell. The twitch and stutter were gone, at least.  
  
With a shrug, Craig followed him back inside the building. “That’s because it’s true of every class.”  
  
“You know tomorrow is the final, right?”  
  
“Yeah, so?”  
  
“What if you fail?”  
  
“I won’t.”  
  
If there was one thing Craig was very sure of, it was that he wasn’t stupid by any means. He may not have been a good student, but he was, in fact, an A student. He needed to be if he was going to get a scholarship. He sure as hell couldn’t afford to go to a university on his own and his parents were struggling as it was. He couldn’t ask them to pay.  
  
Maybe skipping class was a bad way to go about things, though. Oh well, he was about 4 years too late to start caring.  
  
“You’re always so sure of yourself….” Tweek let out a sigh. “I wish I could be that sure about anything.”  
  
“Honestly, it’s a burden. It’s probably more fun to live with a little uncertainty. I’m so jaded.”  
  
“... you have a point.”  
  
They fell into silence as they walked, as was the norm. Craig was never really the talkative sort. He needed someone to talk at him, which Tweek didn’t usually have a problem doing but… there was this sort of gloom around the boy lately. Craig suspected it had to do with the end of the year and their inevitable graduation which would lead to, of course, everyone leaving. Now that he thought about it, he never asked Tweek what his plans for after graduation were.  
  
“Hey-” And just before he could even ask, the two were stopped in their tracks by the sudden appearance of one Heidi Turner, notebook in hand and ever pleasant smile plastered onto her face.  
  
“Hi Tweek! Hi Craig! Can I ask you guys to answer a survey question for me? It’s for the graduation slideshow!”  
  
“The slideshow?” Craig raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t that supposed to be done like… weeks ago?”  
  
“We… fell a bit behind.”  
  
“A bit.”  
  
“Um…?” Tweek looked between the two before finally settling on Heidi. “What’s the question?”  
  
“Oh, right!” Heidi smiled again, opening her notebook and flipping a few pages before settling to write. “We’re trying to find out how many people remember their soulmate’s words! Do either of you remember what yours were, and, if so, what were they?”  
  
Craig’s immediate reaction was an eye roll. Why would they even bother with something like this? Who actually cared?  
  
“Yeah sure, I think it was something like this.” He raised a hand to flip her off before side stepping and continuing forward.  
  
Clearly too many of his classmates were hung up on this subject. He knew it shouldn’t bother him as much as it did but he couldn’t help it. No one else had any sense in this place. They all just wanted to live in a fantasy world and hope that someday their supposed soulmate would show up and change their lives. Fuck that.  
  
The sound of hurried footsteps behind him caused him to slow, realising he’d just left Tweek behind back there. Craig turned to look at him. “... sorry. You know I hate that subject.”  
  
“I know.” Tweek crossed his arms, looking annoyed. “You don’t have to be so rude about it, though. Just because you don’t believe in it doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole.”  
  
Oh great, a lecture. “Whatever, Tweek, it doesn’t even matter. You can’t tell me you think soulmates are real when your word was ‘Fuck’.”  
  
With a wince, Tweek’s auto response was to rub his arm where the word used to be. “... T-That doesn’t matter… my soulmate is still going to say it, so….”  
  
“Jesus, Tweek, you got stuck with the shittiest word on the planet and you still think it’s not bullshit?” Craig shook his head. “Don’t be an idiot. It _is_ bullshit. It’s the biggest waste of time that everyone fucking cares too much about.”  
  
Looking hurt, Tweek took a step back. He was silent for a moment before he finally sighed. “Why do you have to say it like that, Craig?”  
  
“Because-” And then it hit him. Hard. Craig’s eyes widened as he replayed what Tweek said in his head.  
  
Those words… those were _his words._  
  
Tweek’s expression changed from upset to confused. “Craig?”  
  
Craig snapped out of it, blinking before shaking his head again. “Because, uh… fuck. I… I have to go.”  
  
“Go? But-”  
  
Craig didn’t listen, instead just bolting back down the hall and toward the exit, ignoring Tweek calling after him.  
  
He couldn’t do this. This was just a coincidence. _Soulmates are bullshit._ … right?

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this idea for ages and finally decided to post what I've written.... 
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed! And if you're interested in following me anywhere, I'm @sxssafras on twitter and hamflask.tumblr.com


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